John Mayer meets humility in San Diego

After a three-year absence on the touring circuit, singer brings his concert to Sleep Train Amphitheatre

John Mayer brought his Paradise Valley tour to Sleeptrain and will continue onto the Hollywood Bowl before crossing the Atlantic for shows in Europe in the next few weeks.
— John Gastaldo / John Gastaldo/U-T San Diego

John Mayer brought his Paradise Valley tour to Sleeptrain and will continue onto the Hollywood Bowl before crossing the Atlantic for shows in Europe in the next few weeks.
— John Gastaldo / John Gastaldo/U-T San Diego

There was a moment during John Mayer’s concert Friday night at Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Chula Vista when the singer thanked the audience for “keeping me around."

It was perhaps an acknowledgment that in this day of iTunes- and YouTube-manufactured celebrity, musicians know their fans are a fickle bunch. The next “it” musician is merely one click away, threatening to banish the likes of John Mayer, the musician, to the Internet version of the clearance bin.

Or perhaps it was an honest-to-goodness expression of gratitude for not giving up on John Mayer, the celebrity, who has been in the news these last few years for mostly the wrong reasons: Free-wheeling, controversial interviews in Playboy and Rolling Stone that drew the ire of fans and non-fans alike. A virtual revolving door of high-profile relationships with the likes of Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston (he's currently attached to fellow pop music artist Katy Perry). And then there are the unfortunate problems with his vocal cords, which forced the singer to take “an indefinite break from live performing” in March of 2012.

Whatever the reason for his “thanks for keeping me around” comment, Mayer seemed sincere, offering the sentiment perhaps as an indirect apology and a plea for absolution for his past transgressions.

The gratitude came toward the end of his 20-song, 133-minute concert, part of the 40-city tour he announced in March after a three-year-long absence. The tour — which kicked off at the New York Crossroads Guitar Festival in April and moves on to the Hollywood Bowl tonight — is selling out at almost every stop, and no wonder: It’s a comeback effort of sorts for the singer, who seemed Friday to have successfully overcome the throat problems — a nodule developed near his vocal cords — that sidelined him for so long. He appeared to be in tip-top shape, too, to shed the bad-boy, arrogant image that often landed him on TMZ and in the gossip rags.

John Mayer, the celebrity, didn’t show up in Chula Vista on Friday night, but John Mayer, the musician, definitely did. Armed with material from two albums — 2012’s “Born and Raised” and 2013’s “Paradise Valley” — the singer, who turns 36 on Oct. 16, delivered a confident, grounded performance that was more jam session than stadium concert.

Lacking the trappings of a big-arena performance, the evening showcased Mayer’s vocal prowess and guitar aptitude. Mayer sounded assured and relaxed right from the get-go when he launched the night with the airy “Queen of California,” the second single from “Born and Raised,” his fifth studio album.

The first words out of his mouth — Goodbye cold, goodbye rain — drew applause from the near-capacity crowd, who were perhaps thankful, too, that the years-long silence has finally been broken.

In “Shadow Days,” he sings I’m a good man with a good heart/Had a tough time, got a rough start/But my shadow days are over now. Mayer, it seemed Friday, was intent on proving exactly that — he’s a good man with a good heart.

It was John Mayer on reboot, and Friday, Mayer met humility, and it proved to be a delightful sight.

Friday’s concert was all about the music — an evening filled with many songs that showcased his signature vocally tense delivery. If you were expecting a production, though, you were out of luck. The stage was simple, devoid of any high-tech gadgetry that’s become the norm for many stadium and arena concerts. Performing in front of a simple screen that projected images of starry skies and desert landscapes — in some cases, cheesy images that seemed like bad CGI — Mayer was in control all night, setting a laidback tone for the evening and for his eight-member band, which included strong backup vocals by Tiffany Palmer and Carlos Ricketts.

With “Dear Marie” — the country-sounding song from “Paradise Valley” that showcases his talents as a lyricist — Mayer shined. His delivery was intimate — as intimate as you can get in an amphitheater filled with nearly 20,000 people.

Remember me?/I’m the boy you used to love when you were 15/Now I wonder what you think when you see me in a magazine, he sang, an admission of how his fame sometimes got in the way of his music.

Thankfully, he let nothing get in the way Friday. It was a music lover’s paradise, with many powerful performances that put Mayer’s instrumental flair front and center. The night kicked off with a strong opening act by Phillip Phillips, the 2012 "American Idol" winner, whose punchy, often fiery, delivery and guitar skills matched that of Mayer. He capped his nine-song set, which included a cover of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," with an exuberant performance of "Home," his debut single.

In “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” — from his third album, 2006’s “Continuum” — Mayer, mellow and cool, offered exactly that, a slow dance under a night sky burning with bright stars.

The concert wasn’t highly produced, its pacing at times giving off a “let’s-just-sit-back-and-play-some-music” vibe. Relaxed, Mayer was chatty and playful, peppering the evening with jokes and casual conversation.

His cover of “Free Fallin’,” the opening track of Tom Petty’s 1989 album “Full Moon Fever,” captivated the audience, with many filming the performance with their phones. Alone on the stage, all black except for white lights shining above him, Mayer was at once bold and vulnerable.

For five minutes, he was just a man with his guitar and his voice. And nothing else was needed, really.

An hour into the concert, he dug deep into the archives and brought out his breakthrough hit “No Such Thing,” the debut single from his first album, 2002’s “Room for Squares.” Save for the amateurish backdrop of pink rose petals flitting around a desert landscape, it was a stunning soundtrack to a beautiful Friday evening.

One of the most successful songs of the night was the opening encore “I Will Be Found (Lost at Sea),” performed on a black piano by a black jacket-clad Mayer, who uttered the lyrics I’m a little lost at sea/I’m a little birdie in a big old tree/Ain’t nobody looking for me/Here out on the highway/But I will be found/I will be found.